RIAA MEMBER ATTACKED FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS. NO, HARD TO BELIEVE, I KNOW: Big legal rumpus in the US, where an online Spanish sports magazine CentroDeportivo.com has filed an action against RIAA member Univision. The heart of the legal strike is that images owned by CentroDeportivo has turned up on Univsion forums. Univision's defence? That the pictures were posted by individual users, and that they can't be blamed iof people choose to use their network to breach copyright rules. Which would probably have worked, were Univision not part of an organisation which has spent much of the last decade attacking file-sharing networks and dismissing as rubbish those companies' claims that they can't be blamed if people use their network to breach copyright.

RIAA MEMBER ATTACKED FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS. NO, HARD TO BELIEVE, I KNOW: Big legal rumpus in the US, where an online Spanish sports magazine CentroDeportivo.com has filed an action against RIAA member Univision. The heart of the legal strike is that images owned by CentroDeportivo has turned up on Univsion forums. Univision's defence? That the pictures were posted by individual users, and that they can't be blamed iof people choose to use their network to breach copyright rules. Which would probably have worked, were Univision not part of an organisation which has spent much of the last decade attacking file-sharing networks and dismissing as rubbish those companies' claims that they can't be blamed if people use their network to breach copyright.

OXFAM GOES GOTH: We're delighted to hear that Huddersfield Oxfam is taking itself off in a Goth direction - although if we read the story right, it hasn't actually got any black PVC pants and long, floaty spider's web dresses, just hoping they'll turn up. They're making an effort, though, as their manager explains:

"At the moment we only play Radio 2, but I do plan to bring in some goth CDs for the customers to listen to. You never know; some people might decide they want to become goths as well."

WE DON'T GET POP SCANDAL LIKE THIS IN THE UK: Kim Hyun-jung, a Korean pop singer, has managed to alienate a large portion of the Korean public with the lead track from her latest album.



Who is it who feels singled out and slighted by her music? Erm... men with Type B blood. It's got so bad now that Kim has had to make a statement explaining the song Type B Men is meant to in praise of Type B blood, and - yes - some of her best friends have Type B blood. Even her Dad is type B. And so on.

ADDITIONAL SKILLS FROM KIM WILDE: So, we've got a big piece of paper we're keeping track of Kim Wilde's many roles on - so far we've got singer, gardener, expert on Fell Paths, knowledegable about the menopause. And now: she's endorsing an Awards programme - the STARs - for "unsung heroes in the learning and skills sector." Oh, and she looks good in futuristic punklite clothes.

SMASHING PUMPKINS: We were quite proud of our attempt at a cat, carved into a pumpkin last night. Then we saw these:



Yup, that's the Edge, rendered as a squash by a chap called Michael Pekala. He did a whole slew of
U2 pumpkin art. If we were demons, it'd keep us away.

GOING WITH THE HERD: I suppose the grudging thing we could allow about Band Aid III is that they're going about it with a bit more gusto than Band Aid II - it's amusing the number of people who keep asking "when was there a Band Aid 2?" They've managed to shake off the ghost of that project, which we think of as the Fresh Fields Charity Single ("it's only Sonia") and are attracting some people who don't have to do this sort of thing. Latest name signing up is Damien Hirst, who mercifully is only going to design the sleeve. We've made up a small box containing jokes about bags of grain cut in half and such like, and left it on the Sun's doorstep, for them to pick through for tomorrow's edition.

THIS SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE WAITING FOR SOME 'OH, GO ON' FROM THE CROWDS: Just like Elton refusing to release Candle In The Wind until public sentiment "forced" him to change his mind, The Undertones don't think it would be appropriate to release Teenage Kicks. We think we should call their bluff, and go with Bis' We Love John Peel as the memorial single instead.

CONFUSION IS NEXT: ... and we thought the point of the legal swoops were to stamp a serious message that non-authorised filesharing is wrong, yeah? As if the discussions between record companies and eDonkey weren't then puzzling enough, Sony BMG has signed a deal with Grokster. What will happen under the Mashboxx initiative is that surfers who attempt to download Sony BMG music through the peer-to-peer network will be able to find the music, but have to pay for it through a legit server. Now, we could be wrong here, but isn't that going to offer legitmacy to the network? Can you argue that people will be able to say definitively that they know they were outside of the law if, sometimes when they try to download copyrighted material, they're alerted to the fact and asked to make a payment? And if people do pay up when prompted, would the RIAA be able to argue in court that they were knowingly breaking the rules when they didn't pay?

And, far more significantly: the big labels insist these services are ruining music. And yet they're doing deals with them, deals that can only stack up on the basis that these networks have lots of people visiting them swapping music. Isn't it a bit hypocritical to be suing people for using something in exactly the way that you're simultaneously using to promote your business? It's like suing people for going to the Virgin Megastore.

WE BET THEY DO: The BPI is keen for the "hardcore" filesharers it's targetting to keep the RIAA happy to settle out of court - and we can understand why it might feel it better for them to hand over cash without having to make any sort of a case in front of a judge and a jury. It might be interesting for you to know - if you're thinking of changing your ISP or upgrading to Broadband any time soon - that BT Openworld, Wanadoo, Telewest and NTL have gleefully handed over their customer's private contact details to the BPI, a self-appointed trade association.

The BPI had insisted that they were going after "hardcore" file sharers, although it turns out that the "worst" offender was only allowing access to a folder with nine thousand tunes in, which makes you wonder what the BPI thinks "hardcore" means - doubtless they blush when they see Page 3 because they think it's hardcore porn; and they think the Birdie Song is hardcore dance.

THERE'S DESPERATION, AND THERE'S DESPERATION: It's funny that whenever Geri Halliwell is seen out on a young man's arm, "friends" quickly pop up to say "they seem like an odd couple, but she's convinced he's the right man." At least when it was Chris Evans or Robbie Williams, they were the right men at the time to help push a single. But, bloody hell, Geri: Darius? Are you kidding? That's not even going to sell a single to Darius, never mind the general public.

YEAH, REUNITED 'CAUSE WE UNDERSTOOD...: Also back together after "difficulties" are Wet Wet Wet, who played their first gig together in... oh, years at the weekend. They dipped their toe back into the water with a private gig at the Mar Hall Hotel, Bishopton. The invited audience said they sounded "better than ever" - although, to be honest, they're going to have to go some to improve on the years of blissfull silence they've just brought to an end.

REUNITED... AND IT FEELS SO GOOD, FROM A PR POINT OF VIEW: Single women all over Britain will be breathing a long, cold sigh of relief that Chris Evans and Billie Piper have got back together. In true fairy-story style, their marriage was sparked back into life when they met in The Groucho Club. Rumours that Chris hit on Billie, and had been at their house for two days before he sobered up enough to work out he'd pulled his own wife cannot be confirmed at this point.

TEN THOUSAND FOR THE GIG. TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND FOR NOT TELLING ANNIE LENNOX ABOUT IT: In what might be the most expensive gig of alltime, and certainly is the most over-paid appearance, Bill Gates paid Sting over a quarter of a million quid for an eight song set. We love that it's possible to actually determine exactly what Sting's price is now, down to the penny. We're thinking of starting an appeal to see if we can get him down to our Christmas party. He won't be asked to sing any songs, we just have plans involving a pile of day old-lard and a bunch of hungry schnauzers. Worth 273k of anyone's money, surely?

BAN THIS SICK FILTH: With the music industry apparently still convinced that legal action is the way to stop people file sharing, it looks like it's up to the legal download services to come up with a scheme to stop the practice of not paying for music online. Which makes some sort of sense, since illegal downloads barely register a blip on the record companies' bottom lines, whereas they are liable to do proportionately more damage to the legal download services.

Anyway, Wippit have taken a lesson from the evangelical far right of America, who attempt to bully TV stations out of showing programmes which will "destroy" the fabric of American life (for example, they might show Ellen Degeneres in the same frame as a woman, prompting most of Kansas to turn into lesbians) by writing to advertisers and threatening a boycott of their products. The new music world equivalent has seen Wippit writing to companies whose ads have appeared on eDonkey pages insisting they stop their support for this sort of thing.

The companies they've approached - NatWest, KLM, Renault, O2 and so on - seem to be pretty compliant with the demands of the company, even though they all feign surprise that their banners have been running in such odd company.

First Direct's comments are interesting:

"We never asked to be on that site," said a First Direct spokeswoman, "and were quite clear we don't want to be on those sorts of site because we don't think we should be supporting something that could be used for illegal behaviour."

The key word here, of course, is "could be." The last thing you need this lunchtime is us running through the long list of legitmate uses of eDonkey, or, indeed, suggesting that large chunks of the stuff slewing about the network isn't actually breaching copyright. That means, though, that First Direct are really saying they don't wish to associate themselves with something simply because it could be a means of exchange for illegal activites. We don't know if anyone's told them yet, but money - the stuff that they exist to deal with - is quite often used to buy illegal guns, pay hitmen, reward Jeffrey Archer, procure hookers, and even, rolled up, to snort cocaine. We're a little confused as to how First Direct feels able to bring itself to be "supporting something that could be used for illegal behaviour" in this way. We expect them to quitting the financial services industry by teatime.

It's equally odd that Wippit are insisting that NatWest and Renault refuse to have anything to do with eDonkey: after all, as this week's Economist reports, most of the major labels are said to be in negotiation with the company. If they're happy to deal with the company - and thereby acknowledge that it is a legitimate concern - how can Wippit call for other groups to shun them, supposedly in the name of protecting the major's own copyright?

IT'LL BE ALL RIGHT ON THE LIGHTS: Fresh from having invited Michael Howard to appear in their next video, Busted have agreed to help the military-industrial complex some more by agreeing to turn on the Christmas Lights in London's busy Regent Street. Busted will be appearing on the stage with the big button at 5.15 this coming Sunday.

The last couple of years have seen Will Young and Daniel Bedingfield do the lights honours, and it hasn't harmed their careers one bit, has it?

AMERICA? MAYBE NEXT YEAR: Coldplay haven't played a single gig in the US this year - presumably relying on the whole sharing-a-bed with Gwyneth thing to do the promo work for them - but they had planned to an event in LA. Now, though, the station hosting the Chris Martin/Johnny Buckland gig has pulled the date making a vague promise of doing something in 2005 instead. Now, who wants to offer 200 words on why British bands have trouble making it big in America?

DANCE MUSIC, YOUR TEN YEARS IS UP?: Not that it'll bother people who actually make dance music, or dance to dance music, but according to the UK music industry, it's over: the Brits has dropped the Best Dance category in favour of a Best Live Act award. It appears to be something to do with Fergal Sharkey and the government, as it's the Live Music Forum who've been called in to help with the new category.

WHAT'S THIS? FRANKIE GOES TO BOREHAMWOOD?: The big search for a new singer to replace Holly Johnson has ended; Ryan Malloy will take lead vocals at the Trevor Horn silver jubilee bash.

This is him:



Yes, that's what we said, too.

ESTHER WILL BE PROUD: Although she's been around for ages, Sheena Easton has become one of the youngest ever celebs to get into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame. Indeed, she shared her induction with Debbie Reynolds and Jack Jones, which makes her practically foetal in LV HofF terms.

DARKNESS FALLS: Actually, it's not quite a fall, but The Darkness have managed to screw themselves up a bit - Justin Hawkins got drunk, had a fight and put his hand through a window. The severed tendons had to be operated on at the Princess Grace Hospital, and it could be several months before he can pick up his plectrum again. More seriously, a hand out of action is going to make zipping up those catsuits damn nigh impossible.

DESTINY DISSING: Little icelandic puffin Bjork has had a go at Beyonce for doing work for advertisers. Now, while we'd admit she's got a point, Bjork is on exactly the same shaky ground as the anti-adists in Radiohead: if it's bad to "sell your soul to the devil", why is it okay to do promotional work for the Olympics, which is surely one of the worst global corporations and one of the biggest brands there is?

DESTINY DISSING: Little icelandic puffin Bjork has had a go at Beyonce for doing work for advertisers. Now, while we'd admit she's got a point, Bjork is on exactly the same shaky ground as the anti-adists in Radiohead: if it's bad to "sell your soul to the devil", why is it okay to do promotional work for the Olympics, which is surely one of the worst global corporations there is?

POLLY AND MOZZER: We reckon that the news that PJ Harvey is going to be supporting the reinvigourated Morrissey at his Christmas dates (Glasgow SECC on December 13th and Birmingham NIA on December 14th) is probably going to demand consideration for bill of the year.

PEEL UPDATES: In case you've not spotted it, we've been updating the main Peel post to try and reflect some of the many, many tributes and articles. Over the weekend, there's been suggestions of what should happen now, many favourite anecdotes, and, less welcome, a eulogy from the BNP.

WHAT THE POP PAPERS SAY: The Peel Acres
This time last week Peel Acres merely referred to the place where John lived and usually broadcast from. Now, of course, it's an apt description of the amount of newsprint that has been produced in his honour - mostly - and remembering a man who we suspect would be genuinely surprised and probably totalled embarrassed by the depths of feeling pouring out. A lot of it is covered in the Peel uber-post on No Rock, but there's a few things worth singling out. Not least the Independent, which carried Andy Kershaw's not entirely shaded suggestion that the moving of the show to straddle midnight was killing him - "You're bigger than the BBC" replied Kershaw, encouraging him to resist being shunted off. Although, of course, for a man repeatedly described as self-effacing throughout his many obituaries this week, bursting into Andy Parfitt's office insisting on being given the breakfast show would be exactly what he wasn't about. We're not sure if it was appropriate for Kershaw to mention the timeslot and its apparent toll so soon after the death of his friend - although we understand his anger, the effort of being over a thousand feet above sea level for a man reportedly very badly out of condition, with a severe type of diabetes may have been more than enough to steal him, without any effect of some late nights. Of course, Andy Parfitt had given a couple of press interviews in the first couple of days after Peel's death was announced saying how hard it had been to persuade him to take the holiday in Peru in the first place. So maybe, inadvertently, management had killed him after all - but with kindness.

Trevor Dann offered some memories for the Independent Arts & Books Review - and it turns out Peel had something in common with his fellow East Anglian based dj: "I [Dann] was an advocate of the A10; [Peel] preferred the A505 right round Royston to the A1. For weeks, he'd keep me informed of various time trials that he'd done using different routes, all proving that he was right in the first place."

Perhaps the oddest claim in all the coverage was the Daily Mail's, that he was a "stalwart of middle England" - although he probably was, the middle England he represented wasn't the one imagined by the Daily Mail, a Tory voting yeoman paradise which exists in solely in the mind of toffs who live in London townhouses; it was a much more settled, co-operative place, and - crucially - one which values institutions like the BBC and the opportunities they offer everybody to get on air.

Disagreeing with the Mail, Ian Pring sent a snotty letter to the Guardian complaining that Peel wasn't Middle England enough: "If a piece of rock or pop lasted longer than three minutes, he had no time for it. And in the late 1970s he introduced an inverted snobbery into rock music criticism by using his position to present any band that ever tried to do something more ambitiuous than the working class rants of the Sex Pistols as middle class and pretentious. Class shouldn't have aplace in music, but John peel helped keep it there for over 30 years." We have no idea who Pring is, but we're guessing he's a public school boy who had his prog rock demo cruelly ignored in 1979. There's so just many flaws in his argument - how many fifteen minute chunks of hardcore dance has he played? If he was so busy making a fetish of the working class, how did Chapterhouse ever get a session?

Other matters: The Economist featured a Music Industry Special Report, which is one of those things that the music industry hates: an impartial, cool eye being run over their businesses. The Economist chided the industry as it "rarely develops new artists into long-lasting acts, relying instead on short-term hist promoted in mainstream media" - so much for the RIAA's boasts about how they develop the next generation of artists off the profits from today's giants. Instead, as the paper makes clear, the labels are basically just driving today's new acts into a short-lived cycle, like a farming raping his fields for a couple of years of massive yields and not worrying about how the ground will be left barren. And the metaphor carries through, too: the Economist points out that, for an industry which relies for much of its sales on back catalogue, it's coming dangerously close to not replenishing that catalogue at all with its current crop. Mind you, the industry has never been as good as it likes to think at developing talent anyway: An impala survey suggests that 65% of the Major's back catalogue comes from bands that were developed by the indie sector.

There's also another kicking for the RIAA's fascination on the internet as being the cause of all evil: The Economist has seen a survey which suggests that the drop in American sales had little to do with the web - At least two-thirds to three-quarters of the drop was down to other factors. That report was produced by, um, one of the major labels. So even they know they're fighting a paper tiger. But, hey, it's easier to throw a few lawsuits at teenagers than to have to explain to shareholders why their business is fucked. It's just a pity the BPI are adopting the same angle.

Even more interesting is the claim by Sam Yagan that his company, eDonkey, has had meeting with of "three of the four majors" about how they can work together. Now, that's confusing, isn't it? The RIAA trying to tell you that illegal filesharing is wrong and bad while simultaneously trying to do a deal with the bloke who makes it possible - why, it almost would unpick any of the "educative" effect of those legal actions were people to think about it.

Even had the NME turned up on time, it would have seemed a bit like a missive from another a time, crashing out on the day after our Princess Diana moment. With the Scissor Sisters on the cover, with a really beautiful set of blue-themed pictures, oddly, the NME felt a bit like the future rather than being out-of-date.

Having said which, their news kicks off with a Stone Roses reunion (or rather Mani popping up onstage at manchester during the Ian Brown set), which is more like suggesting Brett Anderson and Neil Codling shopping together would be a Suede reunion. And Noel Gallagher was there, too. We imagine someone from security will be in trouble for letting him through.

It comes to something when the NME US election feature is a more weighty piece than the one in the Radio Times (they, by the way, have an article on the Simpsons and an article on Dead Ringers, and not a word about, you know, the chances of the Supreme Court being turned into a far-right playground or a pre-emptive war on a nuclear power or anything. Because that's not what it's about... it's about Bush saying "misunderstimating.") NME grill various Americas on how they intend to vote - generally, they plump for Kerry, although without very much enthusiasm. It's all useful information for the Republicans, who have, we're sure, taken names and are making arrangements for voting slips to go "missing" even as we speak.

Peter Robinson takes on Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol. He chooses Dannii Minogue to put up his shelves, rather than Kylie, because she's dirtier. Ah, but can she handle a plumb line?

The new think-pieces are split between Dan Martin calling for young bands to get smart, and, um, Maggot from GLC calling for the BPI to get off the kid's backs. Tv On The Radio are interviewed, though, and seem to be offering exactly what Martin wants - David Sitek almost spits with contempt at the idea that pop can be anything more than a platform, that it can be the message itself: "How deep can you get in three minutes anyway?" (Shipbuilding? White Riot?)

The Scissers piece is happy, fluffy stuff: Jake Shears realised he was gay when he heard the B52s' Cosmic Thing and Deee-Lite's World Clique; we guess the boys who'll be feeling everything snap into place this coming year will be what's known as a "knock-on effect."

Dominic Masters of The Others then turns up a few pages later - he's fairly relaxed talking sexuality at first - "if you're a 12-year-old bisexual and you don't see any difference between a boy and girl, it's pretty fucking difficult explaining that to everyday people in Somerset" and happily brings up mention of his partner, Johan in the context of proving "you can be normal, everyday indie kids and shag boys"; when Tim Jonze asks him a further question, he snaps "I thought you'd be better than to sensationalize something like this but if you find my partner's sexuality central to your feature, read that article [in AXM]." Which is a little unfair, as Jonze didn't really appear to be pushing for a shock horror angle, and Masters had just been talking about the joys of going out for a meal with your transexual partner in Newquay. It's especially odd coming so soon after complaining that Morrissey and Franz Ferdinand avoid the subject: can you really want to take a stand on your sexuality and then get pissy when people ask you about it? Can you have a pop at Mozzer for keeping his private life private when you want to do the same?

But before we can arrive at answers to these questions, we're swooshed off to the next issue, which is crack in the community. Jonze, of course, wrote a piece for dazed and confused questioning the level of crack use amongst London's Burning bands - although in this weeks Letters Page he clarifies that "to suggest that every band within the M25 is made-up of evil drug-trafficking scum-sacks is the kind of scaremongering that will only result in ridicule or a staff job at the Daily Mail" - so it's interesting for him to put his theory to one of the bands involved. How can a scene based around community espouse a drug that's ripping communities apart. Masters' response is curious - it's almost an inversion of Chris Morris' gag about how it's okay to use heroin if you're middle class: apparently, yes, in Birkenhead and Burnage and Moss Side, yes, crack has done bad things but "It all goes back to this idea of personal choice... we haven't had a death on our hands, and it's because we preach this idea of regulation." Eh? It's free choice, but regulated free choice? Then Masters goes a step further: it's only a problem if you're weak. "if you're a weak person, then don't have a drug habit. You'll be on it forever." But, Dominic, how do you know if you've got an addicitive personality unless you become an addict? Isn't it like offering someone a bag of peanuts and, when they're on the floor clutching their throats, suggesting "you shouldn't eat them if you've got a nut allergy"? It's all a very confused picture, and the sort of stance which might work within a warm commune, but sounds dangerously like a woolly endorsement once you've got a nationwide platform.

At long last, someone's had the guts to compare Britney Spears and Selfish Cunt (the band, not her husband). Britney manages to win on the basis of having sold lots, lots more records.

Tim Jonze is off asking about sex again on page 41 - the Hidden Cameras ask him to perv the interview down. This comes after he suggests Golden Streams is actually called Golden Showers.

reviews
live
hope of the states - belfast mandela hall - "a hurricane of a show"
biffy clyro - glasgow barrowlands - "moments of abject loveliness"
the boxer rebellion - sheffield zero - "devastatingly tuneful"

albums
kings of leon - aha shake heartbreak - "I fell in love with it immedeatly", 8
the 5678s - teenage mojo workout - "the numbers don't add up", 5
leonard cohen - dear heather - "the best of Leonard Cohen was released in 1975", 7

tracks
totw - the dears - lost in the plot - "next stop, Fearne Cotton's place"
britney spears - my perogative - "In summary: fuck you, world"
black wire - the face - "quality"

Anthony Thornton is had up on the defend your iPod feature to argue his way out of having Mr Blue Sky there. Anthony, you really should meet my wife.

And, finally, to the Wall Street Journal, which noted a trend which we had missed: for some reason, muses the WSJ, British advertisers seem obsessed with Elvis Presley. It's true, you know - probably stretching back to that One2One Kate Moss one.

SEAT WTHOUT A SETTLEMENT: Vivian Distin, the first Mrs. Johnny Cash, found herself down on the San Antonio River Walk a couple of weeks ago. Fifty-three years ago before, she and the young Johnny had been walking down there, when they sat to carve their names in a bench. She was surprised to find not only was the bench still there, but the words "Johnny loves Vivian" were still legible in the cedarwood. Touched to find this link to her past, Vivian asked the local authorities if she might be allowed to pay for a replacement bench, and to keep the original. Not only did the council say 'No', they ripped the seat up and locked it away as it was now valuable. We expect they'll put it up on Ebay before the month's out.

ROCK STARS QUIT KILL ROCK STARS: Obviously, we have a great deal of affection for the marvellous Sleater-Kinney here at Stole Their Song Title For Our Site, and we're glad that the Kinney move from Kill Rock Stars to Sub Pop is an amicable one:

Sleater-Kinney have signed to Sub Pop Records. We are very excited about our new label and are looking forward to working with all of the wonderful people there.

We parted amicably with Killrockstars last year. After a decade of playing music we decided that we wanted to try something new. We will always consider KRS to be part of who we are and have much love and respect for them.

On November 5th, Sleater-Kinney will begin recording a new album with producer Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios in rural New York. We will spend much of November and December working on the record, with hopes of releasing it in late spring/early summer 2005.

THIS WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT TOUR TO FOLLOW: Although, when we suggest following the Fatboy Slim tour of North America, you wouldn't actually have to do the gigs to have an astonishing time, because there are some wonderful unusual venues:

Toronto Film Studios (November 10)
Chicago Metro (12)
New York Drive-In Studios (13)
Seattle The Premier (December 7)
Los Angeles Natural History Museum (8)
San Francisco Mezzanine (10)
Dallas Forest Theater (11)

PEPPER ASAULT FALLOUT: Jay-Z not too impressed with R Kelly's claims that it was one of Z's guys who pumped pepper spray into R's face, and has kicked Kelly off their joint tour. Kelly, who is already in a bit of a hole, has decided to keep digging by issuing a statement saying that the "fans deserve better than this" - well, to be honest, we kind of feel that an R Kelly/Jay-Z tour without the first half probably is about as good as it's going to get. Apparently Kelly's lawyers are thinking about taking some time off from the child porn business to bring legal action.